8
By WILLIAM ATilEKTOX DU PCY.
HE modern dreadnought, developed
since the Spanish-American war,
could sink a fleet of 100 of the
best battleships of that time and never
be under fire.
The signal corps of the Army could
erect in 15 minutes on any battlefield
of Mexico a wireless station through
which a commander could move his
men like pawns and over which he
could receive instruction direct from
Washington. Yet wireless was un
known when Roosevelt went into
Cuba.
The submarine of today may go be
neath the surface, travel 100 miles in
waters occupied by the enemy and
drive home armor-rending torpedoes
that break battleships In two, with no
danger of discovery. Yet a decade and
half ago there was no successful
submarines in all the world.
The air scouts of the Government
could today scour the landscape far in
advance of any .invading column, re
port exactly the position of any enemy
and even shell the defenders out of
particularly difficult passes. Yet the
most visionary man in all the Army
never dreamed in the days when Funs-
ton went into the Philippines that
soldiers would come to ride mechanical
steeds into the air to shame the Idea
of seven-league boots.
There, are scores of lesser war auxil
iaries which would give the American,
soldier who fought in a war with Mex
ico Buch an advantage over his fellow
who battled with Spain that one of the
former should be worth 10 of those who
have gone before. Some of those are
brand new Inventions which have called,
into play strange laws of the hitherto
unknown while some are developments
of principles long laid down.
' A Comparison of Battlesklps.
The development of battleships in
the past decade and a half has been
such that the best ship of the Spanish
American war would be a mere play
thing in a fight on the seas should
one take place today. Comparative
figures between the Oregon, prize ship
of the Spanish-American war, and the
New York, Just completed, show the
marvelous development during that
span of time that has called forth the
dreadnought.
The New York is practically twice
as long as the Oregon and nearly three
times as heavy. Its . speed is a third
greater than that of the old ship and
it can shoot twice as far. It has 10
big guns as against four. Its main
since the Spanish-American war, that unpleasantness. Marconi was ex- . H " I V -j J fv. ' 'Til
deck stands 25 feet above the water quate for the purposes of these port
where the deck of the Oregon stood able stations.
but 10. This latter point gives the new
ship a vast advantage for the old ves
sel could not operate her guns if the
sea was at all rough for her decks
would be awash. "
So the Naval authorities say that one
New York could defeat 200 Oregons.
By virtue of its greater speed It could
maintain any distance it chose between
itself and its numerous enemy. It
would naturally choose to maintain a
distance that was beyond the range of
the Oregon's guns but within its own
range. So might It pick on the old
ships indefinitely as fast as they might
come, . -
Wireless telegraphy was entirely un-
known to the forces that participated
in the Spanish-American War. During:
that unpleasantness, Marconi was ex
perimenting with this unbelievable
method of transmitting information in
Europe, but a message had never been
so conveyed on this side of the At
lantic. In 1899 Marconi came to this
country and the first use of the system
was demonstrated in reporting a yacht
race for a metropolitan paper. A year
later the Navy Department began an
investigation of the' possibilities of the
new discovery, but it was not until
1904 that the development of it upon a
utilitarian basis was begun.
But today all the activities of the
Navy and many of those of the Army
are directed by means of these mes
sages of the air. The White House, the
War and Navy Departments, have lines
constantly plugged in to the great
wireless station at Arlington. That
station chats with Key West as two
friends might talk across a dinner
table. Key West reaches out to all the
ships along the Mexican coast and di
rects their activities. The ships chat
back and forth across Mexico, Vera
Cruz and Tamplco, comparing notes
regularly with the commanders of ships
at Guaymas or Acapulco or Salina. Cruz
on the Pacific
Wlreleaa In the Field.
In the Army the use of wireless is
none the less interesting. When a
great body of fighting men today
spreads itself out over an area of 25
or 50 miles, there is no longer the ne
cessity of couriers sent galloping here
and there that the different divisions
of the Army may be directed by its
commander. There is no longer the
mad galloping of messengers from the
front to keep the main body informed
as to the situation. '
When a war column goes Into the
field these days there goes with it a
wireless section. A dozen men and
mules bear with them an entire outfit
for establishing a wireless station in
the field. The moment a position is
taken this section sets about running
up its wireless mast and stretching its
wires. In 15 minutes the station is
hammering out whatever instructions
or information may be necessary. Oth
er stations to right and left are pick
ing up these messages. The base in
the rear thus talks freely with the most
advanced position. This position also
picks up the information of the move
ments of all pans of the force. The
sending force is capable of reaching
out but 30 or 50 miles, but this is ade-
The Signal Corps of the Army has
developed a 500-cycle radio-telegraphic
paekset, the operating part of which
is inclosed in a box about the size of a
suitcase. The mast for the antenna Is
madeup of nine sections, each 4Vi feet
in length. The antenna Is of the um
brella type, that Is. the wires radiate
from the top' of the mast. The coun
terpoise system of ground is used, a
number of wires being laid out in va-
rious directions over the earth.
The generator for furnishing the
necessary current is wholly inclosed,
thereby preventing dust and grit from
settling In the gear wheels, in. the
THE SUNDAY
ATiUnic Monster Indeed
il 1 .ill. I f vS 1 ft (
y- . I
- r
1 . "HHj m i.v c !:
course of long Journeys on muleback.
The armature of the alternator is
geared to the handles, which, when in
action, are turned by two men. At full
output this alternator delivers about
250 watts or about as much as would
run five ordinary Incandescent lamps.
While primarily designed to work
with each other, these little sets can
also communicate with such stations as
Arlington, and would, under favorable
conditions, have no trouble in receiving
in Mexico messages sent out from that
station, i
The. en tire outfit is packed on two
mules, but a third mule is used to carry
accessories.
At the time of tne Spanish-American
War not a nation in the world had a
submarine as an auxiliary to its navy.
Even In the war between Japan and
Russia that came half a decade later.
the ship that dives was not used,
today the submarine flotilla ' of
Yet
the
United States is a military force with a
little appreciated power of destruction.
Along our own snores or in waters so
accessible as those of Mexico, thia flo-
OREGOMAN, PORTLAND,
i -. 'v. - : i
h.. .
tula couid be depended upon to do work
cf great effectiveness.
In the Civil. War. and upon other oc-
31 AY 31, 1914.
caslons attempts had been made to go
beneath the water and there maneuver
to the disadvantage and destruction pi
an enemy, but no success was attained
until within the past decade. But today
the Nation has a score of sturdy, little
submarines that can submerge them
selves to a depth of from 60 to 200 feet,
maintain it indefinitely and travel dis
tances up to a hundred miles. At any
stage of this trip the submarine can
rise near the surface, stick its long
neck into the air and, through a most
delicate arrangement of lenses, look all
about for what it would destroy. Hav
ing thus spotted an, enemy, the sub
marine may launch its torpedoes with
which it is almost sure to hit a battle
ship up to 3000 yards.
It may get closer to the enemy and leads to an understanding of the re
be surer of its target. When its torpe- njarkable feats performed by this ma
. .." . chine. In the body of the ship far be
does are set on their careers of destruc- iow the water llne ls tno torpedo-room,
tion, the submarine literally goes Into Here the torpedoes are kept and here
its hole and pulls it in after It. It ls the torpedo tube which discharges
steals away under the water to safety, them into the water outside. From this
The submarine, when on the surface,
is propelled by steam. This power keeps
the electric batteries it carries charged
to capacity. These batteries can drive
the little vessel under water at a max
imum rate of 11 knots an hour. They
can 'send It 100 miles without being
again charged. JFhen, whenever the
surface is reached, the steam engine
again charges the batteries and the ves-
sel is ready for another trip beneath the
surface.
The depth to which a submarine may
go depends on its strength from the
standpoint of resisting the pressure of
the water. The weight against the
sides of the little ship increases rapidly
as it goes down and the tendency to
crush it as though it were an eggshell
ls increased. Journeys under the water
are usually made at a depth of 50 feet.
The American submarines are capable
of going down 200 feet, they having a
power of pressure resistance that en
ables them to go 60 feet deeper than
those of European nations.
Bomb Ttrnn-Ias From Airships.
As man h! .ecome at home, since
the Spanish-American War, in craft that
go beneath the water, so has he ascend
ed into the air and and there learned
to perform many ingenious services to
the war gods. At Vera Cruz are a score
of men of the air ready to scout the
way to Mexico City, to map every forti
fication that may be encountered, to
locate every enemy, to drop bombs into
every difficult defile. Yet when Amer
icans went to Cuba and to the Philip
pines the name of Wright brothers was
unknown outside of the small circle of
customers who had bicycles mended at
their shop in Dayton.
It was not until 1908 that the first
demonstration flight was made for the
Army at Fort Myer and Lieutenant Sel
fridge went the way to death in which
many a daring spirit has since followed.
Yet in the six years that have since
transpired, the flying machine has been
so perfected that it has become an im
portant adjunct to both Army and Navy.
Still another implement of warfare
that has developed marvelously since
the Spanish-American war Is the
torpedo. That marvelous piece of
mechanism was in Its Infancy 15 years
ago. It could be used effectively at a
range not greater than 900 yards, as
compared with 10,000 yards at the pres
ent time. In its Head there was then
110 pounds of guncotton, as against
300 pounds at present.
The stealthy torpedo-boat commonly
called the destroyer, is the dread of
the battleship by night and In the fog.
Its guns are unimportant and its work
is done almost exclusively with the
torpedo. The submarine, that strongest
of coast defenses, the stay-at-home
boat, that makes the entry of the
waters of a warlike nation so danger
ous, likewise uses the torpedo exclu
sively. The developing use of this im
plement of destruction ls, however, in
its adaptation to the battleship itself.
The torpedo of today ls a steel cart
ridge some 12 feet long. Its forward
end is blunt and it tapers toward the
tail, where are stationed the rudders
and the propellers. It appears to be in '
one piece, but, there are really three
parts to it, and it may be disjointed.
It is an automobile and propels it
self. The Machine That Thinks.
All this is of interest only that it
tube tne torpedo is started on us way
by compressed alr.'for it is a self-pro
pelling machine and needs only a start
in order to make its two-mile journey.
The remarkable thing ls that the
torpedo Is merely thrust into the water
from whatever position the ship oc
cupies. It is, however, so adjusted that
it will automatically find a certain
level below the water, will turn in the
direction it is intended to take, will
operate its own propellers and go
careering merrily through the water
to its target.
The manner in which it does these
things is interesting. In the first place
It carries a complete turbine engine,
and this engine runs two little pro
pellers at the tail. The engine is oper
ated by compressed air, and this air
had been forced into the air chamber
of the torpedo until it is under tre
mendous pressure. This supplies the
force that carries the torpedo to its
destination. .
When the torpedo is thrust into the
water there is a drum in a certain por
tion of it that is exposed to the pres
sure of the sea. The pressure will be
greater or less in proportion to the
depth at which the mechanism finds
Itself. The drum adjusts Itself accord
ingly and in doing so operates a rud
der at the tall of the torpedo. This
rudder brings the torpedo to the depth
below water for which it has been set
So will it keep at the depth below
water line at which it is desired that
the target should be hit.
The most remarkable of all this
mechanism ls, however, the operation
of the gyroscope, which is the team
ster that drives this instrument of de
struction toward its ultimate destina
tion. The position of the torpedo tube
at the time of its discharge has been
such that the torpedo h.-ts started on
its career pointed at a considerable
angle away from the direction of the
target. From observations taken at
the time of firing, the angle of diverg
ence between the tube and the target
is accurately known. The gyroscope is
so set as to correct that divergence.
The little teamster pulls to right or
left until its horse is going straight
ahead. In fact that gyroscope is set
whirling In a position that ls exactly
parallel with the target. It will hold
that position regardless of any angle.
ud or down, right or left, that may be
assumed by the torpedo. It not only
holds that position but it pulls on the
vertical ruaaers oi mo iuj ieu, iiuia
ing them exactly on the target. In the
course of a few hundred yards the tor
pedo will have righted itself In ac
cordance with the dictates of the rud
der and the gyroscope and will be
traveling in exactly the direction
aimed.
I
J
o